It pays to be good, but pay is still better if you’re hot

As Serena Williams received praise for her considerable achievements on the field, another female athlete, someone named Paige Spiranac, received just as much affection for her “ability” off the field.

This played out over the weekend as Williams was called the best female athlete of her generation, while Spiranac blew up as the hottest athlete on the Internet.

You know Serena as the baddest woman on the planet, and you’ll never forget her.

Spiranac is a former women’s golfer at San Diego State discovered last weekend by the Internet with any number of revealing shots of her wearing tight clothes while golfing. She’s hot. She knows it. You don’t know who she is, and she will be forgotten by Wednesday.

In an effort to find some lesson from this weekend’s events to pass on to my own daughter, there exists an undeniable truth from Serena and Spiranac: It pays to be good, but the pay is still better if you’re hot.

Girls, if you can stomach the fight, choose good over hot. Good lasts while hot cools.

There are more fans of Kim Kardashian and her sisters than Serena Williams and her sister, Venus. You tell me which ones should be the role models.

Over the past few weeks sports has seen more reminders that for all of its flaws and stupidity, Title IX has worked for multiple generations of little girls who wanted to play ball, too. Despite those advances, the altar of hot still trumps all other measures; for girls it still pays more to pay more attention to looks than their game.

This idea that “Women have made it!” in sports and are judged the same as their male counterparts is an offensive farce; how women look in their uniforms still matters as much as what they can do in them.

Modern society has always worshipped good looks, and today those services run 24/7 from a variety of “Church of Hot” leaders. Men are still pigs and we still mostly call the shots and watch the games when it comes to sports.

Serena may be a hot-headed diva, but in her craft there is nobody better. The Serena forehand after her first serve is as intimidating as any play in sports. Her power tilts the court at her opponent and creates a visual uphill advantage that is more daunting than any individual matchup today. Her opponents look helpless against her. She is embarrassing the rest of tennis.

This should have more value than Serena’s ability to look good in a dress. We continually tell our daughters, sisters and nieces that it does, but we know the truth.

Men and women talk a good game about wanting equal this and equal that, but the latest society eyeball test says our girls need to be hot, fun, thin and nice.

There is no reason that Maria Sharapova has out-earned Serena Williams by roughly $5 million over the past year other than the fact she’s “pretty” and can rock a pair of yoga pants and skinny jeans.

Sharapova has five career Grand Slam titles compared with 21 for Williams, who is 18-2 in head-to-head matchups against the Super Russian. Serena’s biggest “problem” is that she is “not hot,” or at least her version defies the traditional description.